A podcast that was once about connecting with people to discover what motivated and inspired them to do their great work is now about being "disconnected". Join Rolland as he reflects on topics related (and sometimes unrelated) to Education.

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

In this episode I chat with Gerry Chidiac, a High School teacher in British Columbia. Gerry teaches German, Social Justice, and Pre-Employment (working with at risk students struggling to get through school). Gerry has a great last name....and for the record, we are not related!Listen in to what Gerry has to say about his connection with Ontario, his work teaching Social Justice and Genocide Studies, his connection to the Toronto Blue Jays (Bat flip article), fitting in time to reflect about his beliefs and to write his articles, writing a book, doing what he can to make the world a better place, 7 habits of highly effective people, a recent article he has written about people not being bad, failure/learning/success, the importance of creating happy memories, what he would say to people to help them feel motivated/inspired, being a Christian and working in the the public school system, Canada's multiculturalism, and the Middle East.https://rt.podbean.com/mf/web/v9vv9u/Ep11_Gerry_Chidiac.mp3 Gerry is on local radio, television, YouTube, and writes for his local newspaper and Troy Media. You can find Gerry's Troy media articles here and his local newspaper articles here. Take some time to check out his YouTube channel as well. You can connect with Gerry on Twitter (@GerryChidiac), Facebook, and/or email.

It only took 10 episodes but I finally got to chat with Will Gourley, but I am glad that we finally made it happen. Will is an elementary teacher in Ontario who enjoys all things TED Ed. He was part of the 1st cohort of TED Ed Innovative Educators and recently did a TEDx talk in Kitchener. He brings a lot of passion to his role as a classroom teacher.

The Rolland Chidiac Connects podcast is an indirect result of Will's positive influence on me to innovate. You can imagine how happy I am to be able to chat with one of the people who have helped me "move forward" in a new and exciting way.

Listen in to what Will has to say about TED Ed Clubs, his role in education (Grade 6 Teacher), his work before becoming a teacher, his University experience, the benefits of failure/mistakes and what success is for each student, growth mindset, his TEDx talk, what motivates him as an educator, student voice, helping others with motivation/inspiration, and blogging.

Monday, August 29, 2016

In this episode I connect with Sarah Thomas, a Regional Technology Coordinator in Prince Georges County, MD (DC area). One of Sarah's passions involves helping educators connect globally which led to the creation of the EduMatch project to help facilitate global connections. Sarah chatted with me from via Google Hangout on her mobile device in her car - isn't technology great?Check out what Sarah has to say about her current role as a Regional Tech Coordinator (meeting the tech needs of students and teachers) and her path to her current role, starting EduMatch and its growth, The Ed Squad initiative, her graduate work (Masters and Ph.D), future goals - writing a book or two, visiting CANADA, and her thoughts about motivation and inspiration.
Learn more about EduMatch (http://www.edumatch.education/) and how you can connect with other educators.

Saturday, August 27, 2016

Episode 8 brings you Stephen Hurley, a retired elementary school teacher who spent over 30 years as a classroom teacher, a curriculum consultant, and teacher educator who says he is "just getting started"!

In our first chat for the podcast Stephen talked about his interest in radio (internet based DS 106 Radio), being retired (but not really) - how he fell into teaching, his work as an educator, what he is currently up to (his interest in listening to and pulling out the stories of educators), his interest in promoting a culture of story telling, appreciative inquiry, the concept of community and ideas to make space for parents, what schools can be, and having conversations with people to get a good grip on what motivates them.

Unfortunately, the audio of our first chat was not satisfactory. I pulled the podcast and we agreed to connect again to record the podcast. Today I bring you Stephen Hurley 2.0 - the new and (audio) improved version.

In this episode Stephen talks about how he discovered DS 106 Radio (internet radio), the power of social media in connecting with others, the work he did when he was a "formal" teacher (a "checkered" history - you will see what I mean by this once you hear the podcast), the work he did at the Faculty of Education (OISE), share your imagination/passion with the powers that be, the possibility of losing touch with what happens in a school on a day to day basis when you work at the district office, the work he is currently doing and the motivation/inspiration leading him in that direction (reluctant Pianist and connecting with shareholders in Edu), providing environments for people to flourish, growth mindset and different lenses to look at our work through, neuroscience, "best practice" and how those words drive him crazy, the work teachers do (kids and curriculum), what he would say/do to help others find their motivation/inspiration in the work that they do, making a promise to me about playing the piano the next time he is on the podcast!

Thursday, August 25, 2016

In this episode I connect with Karen Lirenman, an elementary teacher (Grade 1-3 combined class) in British Columbia. Karen works at the Surrey Academy of Innovative Learning (a blended learning program involving home and school) where students learn through inquiry and project based learning using a variety of digital tools.

Listen to Karen talk about her new role and how she is "reinventing" school for her students, how she is evolving and questioning her past practice, her jump from a traditional role to this one, her new book (co-written by Kristen Wideen) "Innovate with Ipad: Lessons to Transform Learning in the Classroom, where she gets her inspiration from, and how/where people can find motivation,

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

In episode 6 of the podcast I bring you The Nerdy Teacher, also known as Nicholas Provenzano! Nich is a High School English teacher in Michigan with an insatiable thirst for learning and a love of tinkering and creating.

Listen in and hear what Nicholas has to say about 20 time projects, MakerEd (Rasberry Pi), design, following your path, his new book (Your Guide to Makerspaces), why he teaches and what keeps him going, how he deals with failure, innovation, and all the cool projects he has wokred on and continues to work on!

Friday, August 19, 2016

In this episode I chat with +Toby Price - Principal at Richland Upper Elementary School in Mississippi. Aside from being a proud elementary school principal, Toby is a father of 3, a special needs dad, and a Jed-iPad Master of Educational Technology who leverages social media to share his love of learning, parenting, autism, and Star Wars! Toby is down to earth and has a great attitude and perspective on life. His passion for his family and his work is evident - there is no way that you could miss it. Listen in to hear Toby talk about his school community (what he means by "we get to, we don't have to") and his work life, parenting his children (two of which have Autism) and his home life, making a living, tweeting Oprah, Star Wars, Man vs Autism, Wrestling, Grog the Zombie and Sheep, giving kids something to remember, and his opinion on what people need to do to stay motivated and inspired.https://rt.podbean.com/mf/web/srek5i/Ep5_Toby_Price.mp3You can connect with Toby on Twitter (@jedipadmaster) and/or at his About.me page or his Blog.

Not happy. I just got back from an awesome family vacation and super pumped to connect with +Toby Price. Toby and I have been going back and forth to find a good time to chat. I have been using Blab to connect with my podcast guests. Blab WAS an awesome way to capture video and audio - I would start the blab and then send the link to my guest. They would them pop in via video, I would hit "record" and we would chat. At the end, I would stop recording and Blab would send me an email of the audio and video file of the chat. It was amazing.

I go to log into Blab tonight and find this:

While this is happening, I am going back and forth with Toby on Facebook messanger about what is going on and next steps!! Of course he is gracious and offers to give this a go another day but I am determined to make this happen, tonight. We set up a Google Hangout and record it, which works but not as good as Blab did!! As I write this post I am using an online video converter to grab the audio from the video. Word up to +Brian Briggs (my podcast Jedi Master) for listening to my rant about Blab being gone and offering me advice on how to proceed. Brian has been my go to guy for all things podcasting so it's really important that acknowledge the support and advice he provides me with.

As I sat there, pouting, Brian tweets me and says that this "Keeps us on our toes and continuing to learn". So true, but you know, I wasn't in the mood to "learn" at that moment in time. Anyway, I just got the notification that I have stripped the audio from my video. I'm going to listen to it now and relive my great chat with Toby so I can get it published for the rest of the world to hear.

Friday, August 12, 2016

In this episode I talk to Michelle Cordy!! Michelle is an elementary teacher in London, Ontario but joined me from beautiful British Columbia to talk about what motivates and inspires her.

Check out what Michelle has to say about her persona (online and face to face), they way she approaches her interests/projects, innovation, abandoning projects that aren't working (kindness is King), the pain that comes with growth, leadership (big "L" and small "l"), keynoting (show up and refuse to leave, ideas that are central to thinking), asking for support, and advice to get someone started (get started, write stuff down, get connected [people, people, people])